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Welcome to a fresh night of thrilling European Cup football. 9 games are set for tonight, including 3 English clubs in play. The Blues take on Barcelona in the key match of the night, while The Magpies travel to the French side and Manchester City welcome Leverkusen.

League Table

We're at the halfway point of the league stage, meaning the standings is starting to take shape. All six British teams are presently in the upper twelve, however there are only 2 points between 5th and 16th place, so there's a sense of volatility about the entire situation. It’s all up for grabs.

Match Schedule

These are this evening's fixtures, each starting at 8:00 PM except where noted:

• Benfica lead Ajax 1-0 (5.45pm)
• Galatasaray 0-0 Union SG (5.45pm)
• Juventus face Bodo/Glimt
• Barcelona take on Chelsea
• Dortmund v Villarreal
• Leverkusen visit Man City
• Newcastle travel to Marseille
• Qarabag play Napoli
• Slavia Prague v Athletic Bilbao

Team News

Wesley Fofana, Caicedo, Alejandro Garnacho, Gusto and Estevao are included in the Chelsea team. Excluded are Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Gittens, Pedro and Liam Delap.

Lamine Yamal starts for Barça; Rashford is among the substitutes.

Chelsea (probable four-three-three) Sanchez; Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Malo Gusto, Moises Caicedo, Enzo; Estevao, Neto, Alejandro Garnacho.

Subs: Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Delap, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Joao Pedro, Jorrel Hato, Leo George, Joshua Acheampong, Marc Guiu, Facundo Buonanotte.

Barça (possible four-two-three-one): Joan Garcia; Jules Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Garcia, De Jong; Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres; Lewandowski.

Substitutes: Szczesny, Diego Kochen, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Christensen, Marc Casado, Gerard, Olmo, Bernal, Dro Fernandez, Roony Bardghji.

Referee Vincic (Slovenian).

Previous Encounters

The sole past encounter between Newcastle and Marseille was the Uefa Cup semi-final of 2004, won by an rising superstar from Ivory Coast. Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City have not faced each other previously. Barcelona and Chelsea have a peedie bit of history.

Early Match Updates

Only a single goal during the opening period of the early fixtures. Samuel Dahl's 6th-minute strike has given Benfica under Mourinho a 1-0 advantage at Ajax.

Newcastle’s Trip to Marseille

Even though Newcastle traveled to the French south fresh from their restorative 2-1 home Premier League victory against Manchester City on Saturday, and having defeated Union SG, Benfica and Athletic Bilbao in the European Cup, their only away win since the start of April came in the Belgian capital at Union SG.

It's not that Howe was eager to discuss the mental side of this away form issue. “The Champions League is different to domestic games,” said the manager, whose team are 6th in the Champions League standings, with nine pts from a possible 12 and direct qualification to the last 16 nearly secured. “I don’t know if you can compare them.”

A dedicated live feed is available for Chelsea v Barcelona. Murray, the MBM version of Maradona is on duty for that.